IN THE PHARMACY

I need you, I told the pharmacist
You accelerate my heartbeat
You awaken my appetite
You quench my desert thirst
You are just what the doctor prescribed.

You’re a pretty package
You sharpen my sight
My hearing quickens when you sound out
My muscles tense & relax
My tendons knit together.

It’s just that your instructions for use
Are unclear, they seem Greek to me
Or Corean or Mongolian or Xosa
I know the words but not the meaning
Or maybe they’re quipu knots
Difficult to read or untie.

How am i to deal with you
Take you into me
Devote myself to you --
Or maybe stop depending on you --
Unless the readings are clear?

           203-271212

  Darko R. Suvin